Chapter 2

Two weeks after my acquisition of the Benji, at about 7 pm on a Thursday, I pulled my car, loaded with everything I could possibly think of needing, out of the driveway. The Benji was birthed at the E Z Landing Marina, toward the South end of Humbolt Bay. It would be a six hour drive through San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and straight up highway 101. I headed North, hoping to avoid the traffic into and out of San Francisco.

On the passenger seat beside me was my copy of Chapmans Piloting and Seamanship, on the floor, my shiny new Craftsman tool box loaded with all of the tools I owned. I was particularly fond of the box. It was just like my dad's. Countless times I reached into his, to hand him this wrench or that, as he worked to repair and maintain the family vehicles. Holding his 'trouble light', I watched him and learned. It was the only time I heard him curse, each time following with,"I shouldn't have said that." His Craftsman showed the wear of twenty-odd years; mine had the shine of a new quarter.

As I drove, I felt the exhilaration of a new adventure, the anticipation of discovery and the uncertain excitement of a new challenge. Stepping out of the known into the imagined, can both fulfill and disappoint, but the beginning of a quest is always full of the best life has to offer. A blank page, an empty canvas, whatever metaphor you choose, it is unspoiled and ripe with promise. That feeling of promise and exhilaration is the mainstay of any adventurer, the downfall of many a gambler, the motivation for rodeo cowboys and the subject of countless songs. It can lead to an addiction or be the addiction. I approached the Golden Gate Bridge.

The name Golden Gate, refers, not to the bridge itself, but to the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. A bridge across this entrance was thought impossible prior to the twentieth century. Water four hundred feet deep, wild, swift currents and the almost ceaseless West wind blowing in from the Pacific, were challenges not conquered until 1937. The span itself is 1.7 miles of roadway hanging 220 ft. above the water, suspended by cables from two 750 ft towers. On one occasion I thought the underside of this magnificent bridge was the last thing I'd see as I passed from this world, choking on seawater and gasping for air. Tonight it was my passage to adventure! The sun setting low in the western sky gave a spectacular show, as I continued North on my way to the E Z Landing and the Benji!

After a few more hours, I pulled off the road to sleep. The sleeplessness the night before, brought on by anticipation, and the post adrenaline rush crash had caught me. Afraid of the loss of all my treasures, I slept, in my car, by the side of the road, until awakened by the sun beating on my face. I arrived at the E Z Landing Mobile Park at 9 am Friday morning. Mobile Home Park and Marina? 'Marina' struck me as an afterthought. I had seen many marinas in my travels and on television. I was anticipating a Miami Vice, Magnum P I or Quincy class marina, not the E Z Landing Mobile Home Park and Marina. No matter, this was where my yacht was berthed. She was surely the best vessel here!